Hair clips



Ap 1959 G. A. LAUGHTON 2,88 3

HAIR CLIPS Filed March 25. 1957 United States Patent HAIR CLIPS GeorgeAbe Laughton, Henley-in-Arden, England Application March 25, 1957,Serial No. 648,167

Claims priority, application Great Britain March 28, 1956 4 Claims. (Cl.132-46) This invention relates to hair clips of the kind comprising twometal limbs hinged together and having a spring urging them together forclipping and holding between them a curl or wave of hair and havingfinger extensions beyond their hinge connection, normally urged apart bythe spring, by which the limbs may be opened or separated for placingthe clip over a curl or wave of hair.

The metal limbs are commonly pressed from sheet metal, and lugs forforming the hinge connection are formed by lateral extensions on eachlimb of the clip. The lateral extensions are bent in a pressing or likeoperation so as to lie substantially at right angles to the limb forinterengaging with those of the other limb. The interengaging lugs arethen connected together by a hinge pin or by other means. For example,the lugs of one limb may be pierced to form hinge eyes, and the lugs ofthe other limb may be formed with upset pips or projections forrotatably engaging the hinge eyes of the other lugs. A torsion or bladespring may engage inside the finger extensions of the limbs beyond thehinge lugs for urging the finger pieces apart and thereby urging thelimbs into the closed position,

An object of the present invention is a hair clip comprising two metallimbs hingedly connected together for pivotal movement relative to oneanother, finger extensions of the limbs beyond their hinge connection, aspring urging the finger extensions apart and the limbs together, a pairof lugs, inwardly directed towards each other, for forming the hingeconnection being cut from each limb and being bent outwardly to lie inspaced side by side relation substantially parallel to the desiredpivotal movement of the limbs, the lugs of the respective limbs beinginterengaged and pivotally connected together.

Another object of the present invention is a hair clip whereinprojections are formed on the lugs of one limb, and complementaryreceiving parts are formed on the lugs of the other limb for receivingthe said projections to effect the said pivotal connection between thelimbs.

Further objects will appear from the following description of oneembodiment of the invention and from the claims hereinafter appearing.

The embodiment is illustrated by way of example by the accompanyingdrawings in which:

Figure l is an inverted plan of a hair clip.

Figure 2 is a side elevation.

Figure '3 is a plan.

Figure 4 is a sectional side elevation of one limb.

Figure 5 is a section on the line A-A of Figure 2.

Figure 6 is a perspective view.

Figure 7 is a fragmentary view of a part of one limb, showing the methodof formation of the hinge lugs.

-As shown in the drawings the clip is of the usual type comprising twosubstantially similar limbs 1, 2 hinged together near one end of eachand having finger extensions 3, 4 beyond their hinge connection formanipulating the clip. The finger extensions are engaged on their "iceinner surfaces by transverse extensions 5, 6 at the end of a fairlyclosely-coiled spring 7 which, by its torsion loading urges the fingerextensions apart and the limbs together for clipping and holding betweenthem a curl or wave of hair.

Lugs for forming the hinge connection between the limbs are produced asshown in Figure 7, which shows a part of the limb 1 and its fingerextension 3. A pair of lugs, such as 8, inwardly directed towards eachother, is cut from the metal of each limb. Conveniently these lugs areformed as shown by making a substantially H-shaped incision in the clip.The lugs are then bent outwardly to lie in side-by-side spaced relation,as clearly seen in Figure 5, the lugs being parallel to the permitteddirection of relative movement between the two limbs. That isperpendicular to the plane of the paper and upright, in Figure 5.Similar lugs 9 are formed in the same manner on the limb 2. The lugs 9of the limb 2 are spaced apart a distance somewhat less than the spacingof the lugs 8 so that they may fit between the latter.

The lugs 8 and 9 are formed with inwardly projecting pips or projections10, 11 respectively on their inner, confronting surfaces, and withcorresponding depressions 12, 13 on their outer surfaces. When the lugs9 of the limb 2 are placed between the lugs 8 of the limb 1, asmentioned above, the depressions 13 receive the pips or projections 10as shown in Figure 5 and form a pivotal hinge connection between thelimbs.

The spring 7 is fitted between the lugs 9 with its end coils fittingaround the pips or projections 11. By its compressive loading, when sopositioned, the spring locates itself in place and also retains the lugs9 in the desired spaced relation and in working engagement with the lugs8, acting in the manner of a distance tube between them.

When the clip is opened, by pressing together the finger extensions,there may be a tendency for the spring to be displaced in the directionof the arrows A of Figure 2. To prevent such displacement a guard tongue14 is pressed from the limb 2 and is curled so as to lie close to theside of the spring.

By the formation of the hinge lugs in the manner described from inwardlydirected tongues cut from the body of each limb, within its normaloutline instead of from lateral extensions to the limbs in accordancewith previous practice, limbs for the clips may be stamped out inclosely spaced relation, or even in juxtaposition if the limbsthemselves are conveniently shaped, without the necessity ofconsiderable spacing to allow for the formation of lateral extensions.Considerable economy in the use of metal is thereby effected.

I claim:

1. A hair clip comprising a pair of elongated metal limbs having a pairof lugs cut out of the metal of each limb, within its normal outline,and bent outwardly so as to lie in spaced side-by-side relationsubstantially perpendicular to the adjacent surface of the limb andsubstantially parallel to the longitudinal axis thereof, upset conicalprojections on the confronting inner surfaces of each pair of lugs andcorresponding depressions on their outer surfaces, the lugs of one limbbeing positioned between the lugs of the other so that the depressionsof the inner lugs are pivotally engaged by the conical projections ofthe outer lugs, finger extensions of the limbs beyond the lugs and ahelically coiled spring positioned under compression between the innerlugs so that its end coils surround the inward projections of the innerlugs, whereby the compressive loading of the spring will retain itsecurely in position and will maintain the inner lugs in pivotalengagement with the respective outer lugs, lateral extensions of theends of the spring engaging respectively the finger extensions forurging them apart 3) and urging the limbs together by the torsionalloading of the spring.

2. A hair clip comprising a pair of elongated metal limbs having a pairof lugs cut out of the metal of each limb, within the normal outline ofthe limb to form hinge lugs between the limbs, said lugs being formed bytwo spaced obtuse-angled and opposed incisions across each limb, anincision in each limb between the angles of the spaced incisions and thetrapezoidal lugs thereby formed being pressed down into parallelism;upset projections on the confronting inner surfaces of each pair of iugsso formed and corresponding depressions on their outer surfaces, thelugs of one limb being positioned between the lugs of the other limb sothat the depressions of the inner lugs are pivotally engaged by theconical projections of the outer lugs, finger extensions of the limbsbeyond the lugs; a coiled spring positioned under compression betweenthe inner lugs so that its end coils surround the inward projections ofthe respective lugs whereby the compressive loading of the spring willretain it securely in position and will maintain the inner lugs inpivotal engagement with the respective outer lugs, lateral extensions ofthe ends of the spring engaging respectively the finger extensions forurging them apart and urging the limbs together by the torsional loadingof the spring.

3. A hair curl clip comprising two limbs for clipping the hair andfinger extensions on the limbs for manipulating them, a helically coiledtorsion spring between the finger extensions, 21 pair of lugs on eachfinger extension which lugs are perpendicular to the finger extensionsof each limb, hollow conical projections formed on the inner surfaces ofeach pair of lugs and corresponding depressions on their outer surfaces,the lugs of one finger extension being positioned between the lugs ofthe other so that the conical projections on the outer lugs pivotallyengage in the depressions in the outer surfaces of the inner lugs, andthe projections of the inner lugs entering the ends of said helicallycoiled torsion spring, said spring being in compression when inposition, whereby the compressive loading of the spring will retain itsecurely in position and will also maintain the respective lugs inpivotal engagement wtih each other; lateral extensions of the ends ofthe coiled torsion spring engaging respectively the finger extensions inorder to urge them apart and thereby urge the clip parts of the limbstogether under its torsional loading.

4. A hair clip comprising a pair of elongated metal limbs as claimed inclaim 3, wherein a guard tongue is blanked from one finger extension ofthe clip and curled so as to lie close to the coiled spring but spacedtherefrom whereby it will prevent bowing of the median part of thespring and retain it against accidental displacement when the fingerextensions are closed together in the action of opening the limbs of thehair clip.

Webster May 4-, 1909 Hermsdorf Nov. 28, 1933

